Renting a Villa for a Site-Based (Hub and Spoke) Bicycle Tour

We see lots of people now renting villas for a one or two-week bicycle tour. They may take their own bike or they'll rent one in country and spend time relaxing by the pool, pedaling, and touring nearby villages.

The best places for bike trips like these are Tuscany, in Italy, and Provence in the South of France. Both regions have a dense network of roads, lots of sights to see, great food, people, and plenty of villas for rent. On a villa bicycle vacation you can take the entire family, even the non-cyclists. Those who don't pedal can enjoy the pool, go walking in the countryside, or drive to the nearby village while you enjoy pedaling!

Here are just a few resources for your next villa and bicycle vacation:

About.com has an Italy blog by Martha Bakerjian. Martha lives in Tuscany and has spent time in Sardinia. Her blog has a variety of lodgings listed.

Bike Rentals Plus can help you with villas in Provence and in Tuscany as well.

Hub and Spoke Tours

Who said a bicycle vacation has to involve packing and moving every day? Try a hub and spoke tour in a villa or hotel base with loop rides every day. We work with many small groups of families or friends who prefer this way of bicycling. They find (or we find for them) a villa or hotel in Provence or Tuscany (or lots of other places), settle in for a week, and take rides out from their base. Those who wish, ride hard and long while those who prefer to take it easy take shorter rides to nearby villages, enjoy time by the pool, and take more leisurely rides from the hotel shown here in Central Tuscany, Italy.

If you are serious cyclists or just want to cover more territory you can rent a car or a van. If someone in your group doesn't ride but will agree to drive make them the designated driver. So maybe on some days you'll leave early and do a long ride to a town that everyone wants to see, then the designated driver comes and picks the cyclists up.

Bike Rentals Plus can help set you up with roof or car racks to make this easier.

Click here for details on villa and hotel hub and spoke bicycle vacations in France and Italy.